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Over feeding can cause acid reflux

becca8409 wrote:

So no one told me with my first son that his tummy is the size of a marble therefore they are only suppose to have a half ounce every couple hours because otherwise you can over feed stretch there stomach and cause acid reflux... As a new FTM I didn't know these things. I thought you just feed him until he's not hungry anymore. While my son was never a overweight baby or anything he had severe acid reflux the whole time as a baby. I did not even know until this pregnancy that that was possibly the cause. I recently took a breast feeding class because I failed miserably with my first but wanted to try again with my second. I was talking to my sis in law who had her daughter a year ago at the same hospital as I did and she told me that the nurses told her to only feed 1/2 ounce every couple house because it can stretch there stomach and cause acid reflux. I am very upset that no one felt the need to tell me this. I understand that due to health problems and diabetes that my sis in law was a very high risk pregnancy and maybe this is the reason they felt to better inform her but when it comes to babies all moms high risk or normal need to be better educated on what's best for baby. I feel I could of avoided a lot of problems for my lil man if I would have known this before hand

Yes, i heard babys stomach is the size of a marble on birthday but im not sure why they told you half an ounce. Im ftm but have lived on this forum since 9wks pg. Consensus was in the first few days you'll only get colostrum, which apparently is very small amount which is concentrated. Second, i dont think anyone would know how much an ounce would be via breast unless pumping or formula feeding. Also, ive heard the baby will only take as much as they need/want until they are full.

I was told its the size of marble for the first day or two and then it doubled in size. I was also told to feed on demand as my LO may want to cluster feed and that's ok.

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BarbieMom7

Sorry i must disagree with this information. Babies should feed on demand in the beginning it really is a great key to success. Your baby might just have had reflux issues but that isn't true for all babies. Plus as you are nursing how should you know what half an ounce is?

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becca8409

Well maybe true for breast feeding moms but like I said I failed at that... My baby would not latch on and me nor my SIL had ever had a baby the nurses wouldn't even try to help me. They just brought me formula instead of trying to help me get him to latch first. I got so frustrated and was worried he was starving since he had been born several hours before I was able to feed him so I just formula fed him. Formula is thicker than breast milk and he drank 3 or 4 oz every time from the very first time. I think this is probably what caused him to have the acid reflux so bad. As the lactation nurse explained to me the other day they don't get breast milk as fast either and there body is already digesting it as soon as there finished with there feeding so sometimes they need to feed more often when bf. I was just mainly postings experience for FTM that were gonna formula feed or incase like me they fail at bf for lack of proper knowledge

I think I understand what you're talking about. When directly breastfeeding, your body and baby work together to regulate milk flow to meet lo's needs so you feed on demand. But when you're supplementing (whether expressed breast milk or formula) it can be easy for lo to over eat. And that can lead to tummy issues like acid reflux. Small amounts more frequently are the best way to feed lo in the beginning.

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BarbieMom7

Sorry I didn't see anywhere in your initial post that you were formula feeding. I wouldn't be surprised then if the reflux was caused by over feeding.

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bowerep31

Almost the same thing happened to us with DS #1! Nobody told us that his stomach was super tiny at first..... He just kept spitting up GOBS and GOBS of milk. So then they said "only feed him 30 mls at a time." Ok... so we do that. When we get him home (5 days old), he cries and cries and cries and we are at our wits end and everything is crazy... He's constantly hungry...... Didn't want to overfeed.... Go see lactation nurse (I was pumping) and she was like "his stomach is twice as big now!! Feed that baby!" We felt SO DUMB. Yup. Starving our newborn. This one.... hopefully BF works and we won't have that type of issue. Plus, now we know! LOL! Very delicate balance... and I'm determined to make BF work this time!

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becca8409

So I am... My son would projectile vomit almost every time he ate the whole time he was on the bottle. I just thought since his dad had acid reflux it was hereditary. I just hope new moms reading this if you can't bf or choose not to keep this in mind it was a rough first year. It was so bad that when we were at home I would let him go naked because we went through so many clothes I had to change two or three times a day myself because his reflux was SOOOOO BAD

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